Lifou New Caledonia

Here are some photos from our first stop in Lifou-- New Caldonia---
Looking back from the Island to the ship the Dawn Princess with a tender going back to get more people.

A road on the Island-----

The Catholic Church----

Here is the Catholic school---

A traditional meeting house---

Preparing a meal wrapped in leaves and cooked in the ground---

Chopping up coconut---
Dishing out the meal ---
All set to go--there was chicken-bananas-yams-sweet potato-pawpaw-and mango---

Ready to taste---
Yummo---
More to follow

Eating on the Cruise

I thought that I would show you a sample of what I was eating while on the cruise.
Mind you this was not every day but on the occasions that we ate at the Steakhouse.
First there was the Entree--shrimps ------delicious.





I was supposed to be eating a steak but they were such huge pieces I decided to opt out and have the salmon----yummo.
I was so rapt when it came out surrounded with all these veges-- if you have ever been on a cruise you will know that the food is very rich and fresh veges are not over-abundent.
In fact-------

I even surprised myself because I couldn't eat it all.

I did order desert--a Creme Brulee--but I ended up taking it back to my cabin to eat later.

And here is a photo of my daily breakfast--note the prunes--a must when I am on holidays.
I also had a piece of toasted brown bread and a cup of tea.

We had some fabulous meals while cruising and their was only one downside to it all-----

I have to do the cooking at home :((

Stitching on the Cruise

While I was cruising on the high seas I kept myself busy doing some silk ribbon embroidered brooches.
The last lot that I made in the middle of the year have all sold and I thought that I could make some more while I was away.
It was lovely sitting out on our balcony stitching away in the perfect light while the rest of the world drifter by.
All I have to do now is glue the brooch pins on the back and they are done.
The colours are fairly true and they really are pretty.

The next thing I have to do after Christmas is get all my stuff ready for the workshop that I am going to do with Karen Ruane from Contemporary Embroidery which is called Embroider Embellish Create so if you want to join take a peek you may want to do it as well.

Princess Annorexia

Not a very good photo but it is the best that I could do under the circumstances.
She does not have any lights on her this year-I couldn't be bothered because we put her up before we went on holidays.
Every year I decorate her in different colours and this year it is the traditional reg-gold and green.
I have our Nativity scene underneath her this year.

If you want to know why we call her Annorexia you can go here to find out.

I'm Baaack

No photo's yet so I am just letting you know that I am home safe and sound and to tell you that we had a fabulous holiday.
It is such a priviledge to be able to vistit these islands in the South Pacific and to see first hand how the people live and to learn about their culture.
It is so different to what we are used to and I am honoured that they were so happy to share everything with us.
Our tour guides were exceptional and showed us all that there was to see nothing was left out--just a lovely experience which I know that both of us will treasure forever.
I was dissappointed to hear fellow female passengers describing their on shore tours as disgusting and how they were horrified at the living conditions.
When I tried to tell one lady (and I use the term loosely) that this was their culture and that they were happy in how they probably wouldn't be able to cope in our situations she just snorted at me and said "well maybe they should learn".
I can't understand why you would spend all that money on a cruise to these beautiful places and want to change everything.
We went to one island that only had about 220 people living on it and there was only one TV on the whole island so everyone would gather around to watch it when it was on which was not very often.
You could walk across this island in about 20 minutes-which Stephen and I thought we would do but--we took the wrong turn and ended three quarters of the way up this steep hill.
It was heart attach material and I refused to go any further.
The next problem was getting back down--aaaggghhh sheer agony.
When we got back to the shore we sat on a log at the edge of the sand and also went for a paddle-which was perfect.
Let me tell you that this all happened befor 9am--the humidity was awful and I was perspiring like a tap--but it all added to the experience.
The cruising was wonderful and I wasn't sick once--I sat on our balcony and watched the world go by--life was good--and it still is--if I could just stop everything from swaying from side to side
that is.
I'll be back soon with some photo's--promise.

Off on the High Seas

This will be my last post for two weeks because we are off on another cruise on Monday to Fiji-Vanuatu and Noumea.
I am so looking forward to this holiday and if it is only half as good as last years I will be very happy.
This is the ship we will be sailing on -I stole (borrowed) the photo off their web site Princess Cruises.
So all I have to do now is finish packing our cases and finalise a few other things and then I'm off.

See you all when I get back.

Christmas is coming

I know it is a bit early but there is a reason that I am showing these.
The Christmas bird is a swap from Penny in South Australia and it is already hanging on our Christmas tree.
I can't show you what I sent to Penny yet because she hasn't received it yet.
Yes you heard correctly our Christmas tree is up already.
In ten days time we are heading off on another cruise--for fourteen days--to Fiji-Noumea and Vanuato--so I have had to put the tree up now because it will be too late when we get back.
I will show you how "Annorexia" looks in all her finery in a couple of days.





And these are samples of the Christmas cards that I have made to mail out this week.
I have two different shapes for the baubles.
I used stamps to get the shapes--I stamped them onto white card stock using different coloured ink pads and then cut them out.
Next I attached them to the card using double mount tape and also added gold strips to resemble the string that they hang from.
I further embellished them with stars and greeting messages.
I think they look great.

But wait there's more

I have made some more cotton reel tassels----some red and green ones for Christmas...............

Some pastel ones with a pearl trim..................

Some that are blue................................

All clumped together.

Altogether so far I have made about ten and I think I will stop now --well until I need more that is.

Something New

Today I have been playing with old wooden Vintage cotton reels--I have a few of them that have been given to me over a period of time.
I decided to make some small tassels which would be gorgeous hanging off a chest of drawers or even as a decoration on a Christmas tree.
I have used vintage ribbon and braid to wrap around the reel and I then added a small commercial tassel from the bottom and some hand made cord that I made myself.
I also added a vintage Mother of Pearl button on the top of the reel and passed the cord through it and then tied a knot above the button.
I will show you some more later when I have made the cords for them.

Tags

Today is Paper Arts day at the Guild and since our last meeting four weeks ago I have been making tags that I have covered with paper serviettes.
The idea behind this is that we each were to cover some tags using a technique that we had learned during this years meetings.
Even though I had done this technique a long time ago I still decided to do it on my tags because I love the look that can be created by using paper serviettes.
The reason we are making these tags is that we want to give one to each of the Guild members who attend this years Christmas party to show them what can be achieved in our group--hoping that some of them may take the plunge and come and join us.
This is just a few of the twenty five that I made --but you can get the idea of how effective this technique is.

Now I am off to see Ebony perform in her end of the year concert then I will drop into Paper Arts after that.

Different colours

At last I am away from pink and white--- these are made from one piece of fabric and it has 1 and 1/4 inch stripes-the yellow stripe has white spots and the white stripe has yellow spots.
I folded the fabric for the toggles so that only the white showed on one and the yellow on the other.
With the button I folded it so that the yellow is in the centre and the white on either side.
I found it very difficult to stitch on this fabric due to the make up of the very tight weave.
I have another toggle rolled and ready to stitch which has half yellow and half white on it but the thought of having to use a small set of pliers to pull the needle through the fabric again has put me off for the moment.
I don't really need another one do I?



If you would like to see some of the buttons that the other ladies in the group have made follow this link. --you will be amazed at what they have come up with.

Buttons 11 and 12

These are officially the last two buttons from the class with Karen but I am making more of some of them so you can expect to see the trend continue for a while.
The first one is called a Half and Half button for obvious reasons because there are two different fabrics on it.
I have joined the seam with Cross stitches and then added some French Knots

The second one is a Ball button or sometimes called a Knob button.

I think it looks like an arthritic Sea Urchin but you can't see all the bumpy bits because of the way I photographed it.

I will make a better one later.

I am sorry that this class is now finished because it has been a great learning experience for me as well as having been a student with some very talented people.

Thanks Karen and all the class --you were all great.

Christmas Cards

Yesterday our Church ladies group had an afternoon making Christmas cards.
One of ladies from our sister church led the group and provided all the bits and bobs and we only had to assemble them.
Some of the ladies had never made cards before and where happy with what they had made.
These are the cards that I made--it was hard to get some decent photos but you can get an idea as to what we did.
The card on the top left and the two bottom ones were made by using a punch to cut out the shapes and then I assembled them.
The one on the top right is made from tiny triangles of collaged paper which we could assemble however we wanted to.
I chose to make starts from two of the triangle--others made Christmas trees and wreaths.
Gold and red stickers were added to finish them off.

All in all a good afternoon of fun and fellowship was had.

Dorset Button

Today it is Dorset buttons-----which I really love doing.
I had made some of these a long time ago and had forgotten how lovely they are.
This is the basic design but there are litterally oodles of other designs that you can do..in fact you are only limited by your imagination.
They make gorgeous brooches but this one will go into my pink and white theme.

I have been busy making more toggles as well.

Toggle 1

When is a button not a button?
When it is a toggle..............
This is the latest in our "Buttons and More" class with Karen and I think I am in love with these.
I have again used the pink and white theme and I hope in the end I will have a fabulous display to arrange on a small wall quilt or whatever I decide to display them on--I keep changing my mind.
I have used the pink and white cotton gingham and pink broder cotton but I am running out of this beautiful fabric so I must use it sparingly from now on.

This is the last week of the class and I will be dissappointed when it finishes.

I have learned so much from this..not so much about embroidery but about myself and how I approach what I do.

There is more to embroidery than working on doylies etc. and I had forgotton what pleasure

it gives me to do beautiful delicate work.

Thanks Karen for guiding me back to a love that I had many years ago.

Button 8

Button 8 is called Half Cutwork which is self explanitory really.
I love the textural look of this one and the small peek of the patterned fabric in the cut out section.
The stitches I used are Running stitch-Buttonhole stitch-Lazy Daisy stitch and French Knots again on Cream Duchess Satin and using cream Perle 12 thread.
The button size is 38mm.

Tomorrow we learn something new-I can't wait to find out what it is.

Button 7

Here is the seventh button that I have made in Karen's class and it also involves cutwork.
The centre hole started out as a circle but lost it's shape in the process.

Now to work on the latest one.

Button 6

This is the sixth button that I have made in the class with Karen and it was the most difficult one so far.
I have problems with fiddly bits where I am working in confined spaces but after several attempts I managed to get this one right.
The centre part is made from a piece of silk organza which had the cutwork design on it and I have layered it over a piece of pink cotton Voile to give it a little bit of colour.




I had a slight accident yesterday which could have been worse than it was.
I was making my Christmas pudding and when it had finished cooking I was lifting it out of the boiler when it slipped out of my hands back into the boiling water which then splashed up onto my chest and arms.
After screaming like a mad Banshee woman and uttering a few unlady like words I pulled my top off and immediately and went and had a cold shower.
I rang the help hotline who put me onto a doctor and luckily I had done everything correctly and she gave me advice on what to do next.
Luckily it did not blister so I realise that I was very lucky indeed.
Oh and the pudding was not hurt in the drama.
Hope the family appreciate it at Christmas time.

Padded Embellishments

Todays button as part of the Button's and More class is a padded embellishment--you can just see the outline of the covered button behind the green fabric.
The fabric I have used is one of my hand dyed silks--it is Silk Georgette and has French knots in Silk Ribbon and thread which were hand dyed at the same time as the silk.
I am going to wear it as a brooch because I love this green.

I am going to experiment and make more of these using different fabrics.

Finished Buttons

Here are the 4 buttons completed ---I am so pleased with them .

Now I must start on the next items-----mmmmmmmmmmmmm

Damp Stretching Done

The next step in the procedure in Buttons and More was to damp stretch the fabric with the embroidery on it in preparation to cut out the circles around the embroidery ready to put them on to the metal button bases.
This part was new to me because I have always ironed the fabric after I have finished the embroidery which I now know is a no-no.
I can see that by damp stretching the fabric it is perfectly flat--something that Ironing would not achieve.
I do know how to cover the buttons but I am going to wait for my instructions from Karen just in case she has
a tiny tip for me----always willing to learn something new.
Gee I wish that white on white would photograph better.



Oh and another thing---whenever I check my photos after posting them on my blog--instead of seeing what I used to-ie a photo that I could click on and it would then allow me to enlarge it-----I now get a black screen that shows all my photos for that post in a line and it becomes a photostream.
Why has this happened?
I haven't changed any settings on my blog?---is blogger being a pest again?
Please leave me alone when I am happy Mr Blogger I do not need attitude from you.

UPDATE-------------------

Thanks to Penny my problem is solved.
Next time Mr Blogger should ask me before he changes something --or maybe he did and I wasn't listening.

A little bit More

Three more little pieces that will be turned into buttons.
I am doing the "Buttons and More" workshop over on Karen's Contemporary Embroidery sight.
The idea is to embroider within the circle and then make it into a covered button--you can see my tacking thread in some of the photos.
This one looks like a vase of flowers--not planned but that is how it turned out-there are Spider Webs-French Knots and Bullion Stitch.
I have decided to add a small amount of pink to each one which will tie them all together.




Little worms?--- I think I can honestly say I can do Bullion stitch now.

This one is hard to see because I was having trouble with the camera.

There are three bands of needle weaving and one of them has a row of pink Buttonhole stitch which then has another row in white to make it look like lace.

The other stitches are mainly French Knots (with three pink ones) and lastly is a spider web but it is not in the usual shape--just to be different.

My intention is to mount these on a box canvas but Iwill have to make one more (so there is an uneven number)
I am enjoying this class.

Now I have to try my hand at damp stretching---------------

Hello Remember Me?

Did you all think I had fallen off the twig?
Well to be honest with you I have not had anything to write about until now that is.
I have signed up to do a workshop with the fabulous Karen Ruane called "Buttons and More".
If you don't know about Karen and her amazing white on white embroidery(where have you been) click on the link above and go check it out.
Karen is a very talented embroiderer and I have admired her work for a while this year and I follow her blog daily (because she posts daily).
This is the second class that she has offered this year but I couldn't do the first one because it crossed with the preparation that I was involved with for the Guild exhibition.
Now I know you are going to say to me "but Doreen you can embroider and do these stitches"--true---but anything that I can learn from Karen that will improve what I already do has to be a bonus.
The design that I have worked here involves French Knots (my favourite stitch) Bullion stitch (one of my least favourite stitches) and a spider web wheel (but with a few more legs).
My first sample was white on white but I then did a second one and added a small amount of pink which I am very pleased with.
This will eventually be made into a button after Karen shows us a few tricks.
Watch this space as the saying goes.

Spring has Sprung

Finally a week later I have fully recovered from the hectic weekend of the exhibition.
We are having typical Spring weather in Canberra, beautiful sunny days and then several rainy days which is great for the gardens.
As you all may well know I am not your average keen gardener --I love looking at beautiful gardens but I just don't like all the hard work involved in having one.
This weekend Ebony and I brought some new Herb plants and transplanted them into bigger pots and replanted the two that survived from last year.
There are a couple more that I want to get and I think I will be capable of looking after them-well time will tell anyway.
So here they are freshly planted and standing up straight -from the left is Parsley-Oregeno-Basil-Chives and Mint.

Now I am off for a Nanny Nap.

Ask Me How I feel?

Well the answer is --exhausted.

I worked seven hours on Thursday setting up the recycle table--very tiring- then back for the official opening at 7.30pm then seven hours on Friday selling the stuff on the recycle table and today it was 6 hours.

Friday was a busy day and we had lots of customers but today was a cold and bitter day so things were very quiet.

Tomorrow it will be nine hours because after it closes we have to pull everything down and pack all the stuff up.

Thank goodness it only happens once a year--I don't think this old body could take another day.

It has been a great time meeting up with old friends who seem to show up annually to check out all the work that the members have done.

I thought I would show a photo that was taken of Stephen and his gorgeous wife (me) at the opening night--and I can tell you that after standing for all that time selling stuff I am even more shorter than him now.

OK I know it is early but I am off to bed.

Diaries

There's no stopping me now-----
I have finished the diaries that I started yesterday and I am happy with the results.
The first ones are made from some of our hand dyed felt overlaid with hand dyed silk organza and then machine stitched for hilights.



These two were made using some of my samples that I had tucked away--there was a third one but I have decided not to go ahead with that one as I don't think it will stand up to the wear and tear that it would get.

Next I have to make some cards and then that's it--I think !!!

Lavender Bags

Something else for the Sales Table at the exhibition--some Lavender bags.
I have made seven of these and I did the embroidery on them when we went to Melbourne in June this year then I finished them off yesterday.
The embroidery is done in either Silk ribbon or Perle cotton and the cords were made on the machine bobbin in Perle thread as well.
I had to leave the filling of them with the Lavender until Stephen was out of the house because he is allergic to it and when they are done I have to put them in a plastic container and store them in the garage until next week--"or else"--------------------

I also made four smaller pillow ones from Silk fabric with Silk ribbon embroidery on them so now I am off to finish covering some diaries (for 2012) that I have started----busy busy.

Another UFO Bag

This is the last UFO bag that I have finished.
It started about seven years ago when I had woven the panel on the front and I sat it on the purple piece of fabric and thought that it was a good match.
I made the length of cord that became the handles (on the sewing machine) at about the same time and that was as far as it went.It has lingered in the same box as the others-only seeing daylight for as long as it took me to decide not to finish it at that stage.
It is not a big bag but it does look nice--my colours- but not my style so along with both the others I will try and sell them at the exhibition which starts on the 23rd September.

Now to finish all the bits and bobs that will go on the sales table.

Every year I say I won't leave everything until the last minute but I still do and I'm too old to change now.

Another One

Another UFO--this time the fabric was pieced together about two years ago and I cut the shapes out of felt and pinned them onto the piece of fabric where it all sat until last week.
Nice to have another one out of the way.

One UFO Done

About five months ago I made a list of the UFO's that I had and I am ashamed to say that there were over twenty of them.Many of them had the stitching finished and only needed to be constructed.
This Sashiko one has been lurking around for about 6 years --I had finished the stitching but I didn't know what to do with it after that.
I didn't need anymore cushions and I didn't want to make it into a wall hanging because I had nowhere that I could hang it so it just sat in a box with the other stuff.
This week I decided to make it into a bag and it is now finished.
The corded handle is made from commercial cord which I zig zagged together and I added a small hand made tassel on one side.

I have another one almost finished--today could be the day.

Silk packs to sell

Previously I had shown you about our dying day where we had dyed silk fabrics and ribbons etc. to sell at the Guild exhibition in two weeks time--well yesterday I packages some of the things into packs in colourways that will be handy for Crazy Patchwork and embroidery.
Each of the colourway items were dyed in one jar together so that they could be used together and it is amazing how different fabrics etc. take up the colours in different ways.

The last two packets had Pumpkin Spice as one of the colours in it and it seems to have taken over but I rather like how they have turned out.

Now to pack all the silk ribbons and threads.

More Stuff

I seem to be only able to manage a post every fortnight at present but it should improve in the future.
What I have been doing is getting stuff ready to sell on the sales table at the exhibition in a fortnight.
I have been busily stitching all the embroidery parts and now I am at the stage of constructing it all.
I first cut out all the little bags etc then I do the embroidery on all of them then I stitch them up and make the cords etc.
Just like a little production line sweat shop.
These little bags are lined and they will contain a little bag with lavender.
The fabric is silk with silk ribbon embroidery and the cords are made using the bobbin method on my sewing machine.

Can't stop here chatting --must get back to it.